Every Christmas, we seem to buy far too much cheese. So, what could I do with that last piece of beautiful Stilton still waiting to be eaten? What else did I have in the fridge? Broccoli, spring onions and celery; it seemed like soup might be the answer and it was! This is a very easy soup to make and full of flavour. Make it for a satisfying everyday lunch with rustic chunks of crusty bread, or as a dinner party starter pimped up with crispy croutons, swirls of cream, extra crumbled cheese, chopped herbs, crushed walnuts etc. – you get the idea.

You will need…

A large head of broccoli, chopped into pieces, stalk and all

A bunch of spring onions, trimmed and chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 sticks of celery, destrung and chopped

1 medium potato, peeled and chopped

140g Stilton cheese

Sea salt

Ground white pepper

1 tablespoon of double cream

20g butter

1.5 litres of chicken stock made with a good quality stock cube (I use Kallo organic)

1 dessertspoon of rapeseed oil

To make…

Melt the butter and oil over a medium heat in a large saucepan.

Add the chopped onion, celery, spring onions and potato and sweat gently for about ten minutes. It shouldn’t brown or take on any colour.

Add the broccoli and the stock. Stir and bring it to a simmer. Cook for ten minutes until the vegetables soften.

Take it off the heat and blend with a stick blender until silky smooth. If you don’t want just a smooth soup, reserve some of the whole pieces of the vegetables and add them back to add extra texture after you’ve blended the rest.

Crumble in the Stilton and stir until melted.

Check for seasoning and adjust with salt and white pepper. The cheese and stock will already contain salt so only add more if you think it needs it.

Serve straightaway or cool, refrigerate and heat it up again gently when you need it.